


Dan, the sneezing furry

by xletsreadx



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Awkwardness, Best Friend PJ (mentioned), Fluff, Furry Dan Howell, I like to refer to old memes, M/M, Magical Creature, My First Fanfic, PewDiePie (mentioned) - Freeform, Student Phil Lester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 05:58:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11891493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xletsreadx/pseuds/xletsreadx
Summary: Phil saves Dan and finds out that he is a furry. Dan finally feels accepted by someone.





	Dan, the sneezing furry

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovely people! This is my first work and English is not my mothertongue so if you somehow ended up here, please have mercy. I hope you enjoy it and have a nice day/night :)

It was on a nice sunny day as Phil decided to go to the park to study. He actually preferred to stay home but videogames and especially the internet were too much of a temptation. Just after a few minutes of work he'd search something up that he didn't understand and three hours later he'd still be on the internet watching a youtube video about laughing zebras. So, as he had to prepare for an important exam Phil figured I'd be better to take drastic measures. If the merciless sunrays burning his porcelain skin, the permanent fear of a grass-spider attack and all the social interaction wouldn't motivate him to study intensively then what else would? With only his books, a thermos jug filled with pumpkin spiced tea and his fluffy dinosaur themed blanket in his backpack Phil made his way to the nearest park. He settled down under a tree and started to read about Chombsky's basic ideas regarding language acquirement when he suddenly heard laughter and something that sounded like a puppy whining. Phil looked up and noticed some stupid kids molesting a strange animal pulling its tail and kicking it. Was it a big cat? A dog? A fox? Whatever it was it needed Phil’s help. He threw away his book, jumped up and ran there as fast as someone, who had successfully avoided physical exercise for years, could. "Oh my god stop pulling on its tail! Let it go!" Surprised by his screams the kids released the animal which immediately hid behind a garbage bin and protectively put its fluffy tail in front of its face. Phil was anything but a badass probably more like a awkward giant puppy but at this exact moment he was pretty angry and thanks to his tall posture he must have looked intimidating enough for those little idiots to fuck off. Phil turned around and looked at the animal. What he saw was heart-breaking. The fluffy thing was peeking at him through tufts of its tail still shaking from fear and with tears in its eyes. Phil crouched down and stretched out his hand. "Everything is fine now. I won't hurt you. Come to me, buddy." Two big brown eyes looked at him for a few seconds but when Phil smiled the animal finally got up and slowly made its way over to him. He let it sniff his hand before he started to pet it. At first it flinched but eventually it leaned in. "Aww aren't you a cutie? You're the fluffiest fluff I've ever fleen uh no I mean seen." He laughed and cuddled the animal. Suddenly he felt the little head getting heavier in his hands. His fluffy new friend had fallen asleep in his arms. "Poor little guy. You really are exhausted." He picked up the sleeping fluffball and walked back to his backpack. Phil took the dinosaur themed blanket and carefully wrapped it around the little figure before he put his stuff in the backpack and walked home carefully not wake up whatever it was that slept there peacefully in his arms.  
Phil unlocked and opened the door to his flat with his free hand and went straight to his bed where he put down the sleeping animal. He stepped back and looked at it for a second. Phil had absolutely no clue what kind of animal it was. Its fur was brownish and so were its eyes. It had a tail like a fox whereas the face looked more like a cat. But it was too big to be either of them. Also, it wasn't wearing a collar or something that could help identify its owner. Therefor it must be a wild animal. Should Phil call the animal shelter? What should he tell them? Would they be nice to his cute little friend? After a few minutes of thinking everything through Phil decided to do some research on the internet and to ask his best friend PJ for help. He went to the kitchen and opened his laptop. He logged in and texted PJ while he had to wait for the connection.  
"Ahoj PJ :) I need your advice on something. Can you come over to my place?"  
"Hi Phil, sry I'm in Brighton with Felix. Would tomorrow be ok for you?"  
"Sure :) See you tomorrow then! Have fun and say hello to Felix from me!"  
Phil put his phone away and starred absentminded at the computer screen. If PJ came the next day he would have to look after his furry guest for at least an entire day. Phil spent two hours scrolling through numerous pages of google images without getting any kind of useful information. What foods should he feed this mysterious animal when its closest lookalike on the internet was an Eevee with a whiff of Vulpix? Maybe he could buy cat food or dog food and chocolate because everyone loves chocolate and vegetables or rather fish? And what about... "Aaachooo!!!" Phil was startled by the sound of a loud sneeze coming from his bedroom. It sounded almost human. He jumped up and hurried to his bedroom but stopped in the doorway as he couldn't believe what he saw there. "Who are you, how did you get on my bed and where is the pokémon????" There was a tall handsome guy dressed in black skinny jeans and a black shirt sitting on his bed wrapped in the dinosaur blanked. "Uhm I'm Dan and well you brought me here after saving me but I'm not a bloody pokémon. So uhm hi I guess and thanks for saving me." The guy named Dan stood up and awkwardly offered Phil his hand the blanket still around his shoulders as if it could shield him from all the awkwardness of this moment. Phil starred at Dan’s face for a long time. He recognized those amazing brown eyes and the facial features seemed familiar. Could it be...? No, that was impossible. But how..? What if..? Finally, he was done starring and remembered his good manners so he grabbed Dan’s hand. "Hi, I'm Phil and you're welcome. I couldn't just uhm watch you suffer, could I?" Something changed in Dan’s eyes and he suddenly looked ten years older. "Well but isn't the whole life full of agony and unnecessary suffering? Do we even have a purpose? What is life? Why are we still here? Just to suffer?" Dan mumbled while starring in the distance. Phil raised his eyebrows in confusion. Could this get any weirder? "Uhm I dunno I’m more on the optimistic side but who knows? Other question: do you want some tea? It will calm both of us down and you can explain to me how you just shapeshifted by... sneezing." Phil’s question brought Dan back to reality. "Oh, sorry yes please." He mumbled cheeks turning pink from embarrassment. It looked adorable. Phil couldn’t decide which one was cuter: fluffy animal Dan or embarrassed human Dan. He could feel his cheeks heading up as well so he quickly turned around and showed Dan the way to the kitchen. Phil prepared some tea for them before they sat down at the dinner table. He handed Dan a cup and carefully blew on his own before taking a sip. "Ok Dan, excuse me for being straight forward and asking about this very personal topic but can you please explain to me what all this is about? I'm really confused." Dan looked down at his cup of tea. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before looking back at Phil. "I'm a furry. But not like the cosplay kinda furry. I’m like a real one and every time I sneeze I change between my human body and my animal form. I can't remember when this shit started and I have no fucking control over it. Like today I was on my way home from college when a lady with strong perfume sat down next to me on the metro. Immediately I felt like sneezing. Luckily, I made it out of the metro at the next station and to the toilets before I transformed. Anyway, as you can imagine people aren't too happy with an animal hiding in a toilet stall so eventually they discovered me and tried to catch me. However, after being chased for like half an hour I could escape to the park where those kids attacked me... and you came to my rescue." While saying the last sentence Dan gave Phil a cute shy smile. Phil's face turned red and the cup of tea in front of him suddenly became incredibly interesting to look at. "It was nothing. Thank you for telling me. I figure now that you’re human again you want to go home as fast as possible before it happens again?” They had known each other for less than a day and still Phil felt sad that Dan would leave soon and that he wouldn’t see him again. This was a first for him as Phil hated talking to foreigners and normally he couldn’t even go to the toilet in his own flat if there was an individual other than a close relative or his best friend PJ in his home. He looked out the window. Dark clouds were conquering the sky accompanied by a faint rumble of thunder. “Although, it’s already dark outside and it’s probably going to rain. If you want, you can stay for the night. I don’t mind.” Phil shyly observed Dan’s face to be able to talk himself out of the situation if his offer sounded too creepy by accident. He wasn’t a serial killer or something but from time to time he said thing without noticing the ambiguity. He didn’t have to worry this time though. A big smile spread across Dan’s face. “Really? I mean I don’t want to take advantage of your hospitality. I already owe you so much. But I do actually live at the other end of the town and I don’t even have a jacket with me let alone an umbrella.” He frowned and looked at the first raindrops hitting the glass and slowly following their irregular paths down to the window sill. Phil’s heart made a happy dance in his chest and he got overly excited. Dan would stay! He jumped up from his chair almost knocking over the table and starling Dan who therefor fell off his chair. “Oh my god Dan I’m sorry! Did you hurt yourself?” Phil rushed over to help Dan but again there was no need to worry. Dan was lying on the floor laughing. Luckily, he had put down his cup before Phil’s outbreak of joy. “I’m fine, Phil.”, he chuckled. It was cute. Everything Dan did was cute. “I’m sorry, Dan. I get easily excited and then I have even less control over my body than I normally do. I’m so weird.” Phil offered him his hand to help him up. Dan took it and got back at his feet. He rolled his eyes at Phil. “Tell me about it. I regularly talk to myself in public and sometimes slap myself when I get a cringe attack from something that happened 5 years ago. And because it is not enough to embarrass myself as a human being I can also do it as a giant mutant cat. So, who’s the weirdo, huh?” “You’re neither a weirdo nor ‘mutant cat’. You are an unknown species and I discovered you! Oh my god that means I can choose your scientific name! You are a…” Phil took a step back and checked out Dan’s whole appearance. “DANOSAURUS!” Dan raised his eyebrows with a smile on his lips. “No.”, he said shaking his head in slow motion. “Come on!”, Phil pleaded with puppy eyes. “Nope.” “But Dan, you are a cute DANosaurus!” There was a moment of silence while they stared at each other. “I mean when you’re in your animal form. With the tail and stuff.” Phil awkwardly motioned something unrecognizable with his hands. “Then you’re cute and fluffy. Not that you’re ugly as a human! You look good and you dress black. Like my hair. Which is good.” Phil’s stuttering was followed by another moment of silence and staring. “I’ll get a pillow and a blanket for the couch. You can sleep in my bed.” And with that Phil turned around and escaped in his bedroom. “Why am I like that?” He sighed while taking the colourful spare blanket out of the cupboard. He grabbed one of his pillows and went back to his kitchen/living room. Dan was putting the empty cups in the dishwasher when Phil entered the room. To Phil’s relief he didn’t say anything about Phil’s rambling from a few minutes ago. Instead he came to help Phil arrange the duvet cover and changed the topic. “Phil, this is your flat and I’m the home invader. You go sleep in your bed. I’ll stay here. I don’t need a bed to sleep good.” Phil opened his mouth to explain how impolite it would be to let a guest sleep on his old couch when he saw it. It was just a furtive peek but he saw it. There, again. Phil followed Dan’s hidden glances. It turned out that Dan was eying the giant cardboard box next to his newly bought wardrobe. He had a sparkle in his beautiful brown eyes. Phil hesitated. Should he ask? Dan had loads of things in common with cats so it wouldn’t be that much of a surprise if he shared their interest for all kinds of boxes but was it impolite to ask? Phil decided to give it a try. After all they already had pretty awkward conversations so another one wouldn’t make a difference. “Do you… do you want to uhm sleep in the cardboard box?” Dan looked at him like a deer caught in the headlight. “I… uhm well.. it's... it’s a nice box.” He ended up saying while his face turned as red as Phil’s shirt. Phil put his hand on his shoulder. “Dan, calm down. I don’t mind you shapeshifting by sneezing. Do you really think I would judge you for liking boxes? Maybe they are more comfortable than beds. We should all sleep in boxes. Folding boxes in different shapes and colours. You could carry them around easily and sleep everywhere! I could have a lion shaped box or hedgehog box where the spines are actually my houseplants! That sounds great!”, he said excided. Dan smiled and looked him in the eyes. “Phil. You are so fucking weird that being with you makes me feel normal for the first time in my life.” Phil looks at him stunned. Then a huge smile appears on his face. He knew that this was the biggest complement Dan could have given him. But at the same time, he also knew not to overwhelm his new friend with excitement (again). Soon there would be a good moment to show his graditude. “So, have you any preferences concerning the fittings of your box? Because I have a feeling the DANosaurus blanket would be much appreciated.” He winked and Dan started laughing. “I see you’re taking the studies of your new-found species very serious. It is true, the…” Dan motioned quotations marks. “’Danosaurus’ in his natural habitat tends to use material from former nests to build new ones.” Now Phil was laughing too. He flopped down on the couch and dragged Dan with him who lost his balance because of that and facepalmed the armrest which resulted in even more laughter from both of them. Later, when they had calmed down they finally got the cardboard box and put it on the floor next to Phil’s bed. They adjusted the blanket and the pillow and Phil even found a spare toothbrush for Dan in his emergency drawer. At some point, they were both cuddled up in their blankets and Phil reached for the light switch. “Good night, Dan.” “Good night, Phil, and thanks for everything.” “Never mind.” He smiled and put out the lights. Soon Dan’s breathing become calm and deep and from now and then a little purr escaped his lips. Phil smiled and closed his eyes. If only he could fall asleep to this sound every night.  
Little did he know that this was only the first night of many that Dan would spend in Phil’s flat and Dan wouldn’t always sleep in the cardboard box as there was some(thing)one Dan loved much more than boxes.


End file.
